Is Final Cut Pro X Apple's Biggest Mistake In Years?

Hugh Pickens writes "The latest version of Final Cut Pro, the widely used tool in the professional video editing world, was getting a reputation as the app that launched a thousand complaints, as the 955 reviewers and raters on iTunes collectively rated FCP as, 'Two and a half stars.' 45% of reviewers gave the software one star, the lowest rating possible, bestowing on the program the dubious honor of being the lowest-rated Apple software hosted by the company's digital store. Many complaints center around lost features. We used to be able to do this, and now we can't. You can't work with existing FCP Suite projects. There's no external video monitoring, no EDL imports, no backup application disk so good luck re-installing the software on the road without a good internet connection, and lots of unanswered questions about site licensing."

Pickens continues: "'This was the product that completely built my company starting in 2000 / 2001 and now it's time for me to say goodbye,' writes Walter Biscardi. 'As I tell everyone else, if the tool isn't working for you, then find a tool that does.' But is this negative response just a very short-term response from editors who have gotten used to doing things the old way and don't want to change? Clearly, there are some amazing new features in FCP X. The 64-bit architecture means much better performance. The new tools such as the magnetic timeline, clip connections, compound clips, and audition seem like intuitive, great features. 'Great design, like great music, is almost always foreign at first, if not disturbingly strange,' writes David Leitner. 'You have to spend time with it. But if it is great, and if you invest your attention, it will change the way you look at the world.'"

Conan's editors seem to love it

[Anonymous Coward]

Everybody else seems to be holding it wrong.
Video [teamcoco.com].

Re:Leaving the top 10% behind in the initial relea

[goodmanj]

So, loading a file you created last month using the previous version is a "high end feature"?

Apple never makes mistakes

[Dominus Suus]

FCP users are used to doing things the 'Windows' way. When they learn why Apple removed all of those features, they'll realise that having to change their entire workflow and implement a bunch of clumsy workarounds will make them far more efficient than before. Besides, the features that have been dropped nobody ever uses anyway.

Re:Leaving the top 10% behind in the initial relea

[GuldKalle]

Ask the MS Word team